Chapter Thirty-Two: Great Victory

  Gu Zhenhua had less than three hundred men, who were divided into three parts. On the hillsides on both sides of the valley, fifty people each lay in ambush. After the battle began, they would push down huge boulders to crush the Qing army at the bottom of the valley.

  Tang Zhanxiong led fifty men to cut off the retreat route of the Dashun Army, while Gu Zhenhua led one hundred and fifty men to block the exit of the mountain valley.

  Landmines have been laid on both sides of the valley exit. As soon as the Great Righteous Army arrives, they will be detonated immediately and blown up all at once!

  Everything is set up properly, just waiting for Li Yan to step into this carefully constructed trap.

  "Your Lordship, there's a sound on the ground, cavalry is coming!" Tang Zhanxiong exclaimed.

  In an instant, Gu Zhenhua's heart was also lifted to his throat. This battle only allowed victory and did not allow defeat. If he lost, everything would be gone!

  "Brothers, whoever fights bravely can get a hundred acres of good land. For the brothers who sacrifice themselves, an additional thousand acres of land will be given to settle their families."

  It is true that under heavy rewards, there must be brave men. Gu Zhenhua's words strengthened everyone's conviction. At this time, Li Yan led a large cavalry army to advance slowly and finally entered the valley. The long canyon, the vanguard of the troops had approached the entrance of the valley, and the rear had just passed the middle of the mountain valley.

  Just then, the Dashun army, which was rushing forward, suddenly saw a stone wall built up at the entrance of the valley, over five feet high, lying across their path.

  These soldiers were all in a daze, but the ones behind them had already surged forward, so they could only grit their teeth and move forward.

  Just a hundred steps away from the valley, dozens of dark gun muzzles suddenly protruded from the other side of the stone wall, aiming at them, and the fuse on the neck of the firearm was still jumping and flashing.

  "Not good!"

  The leading cavalry sensed something was wrong, but it was too late. Gunfire rang out and more than a dozen cavalrymen fell to the ground. The people behind them kept surging forward like a tide, trampling over their bodies as they charged ahead.

  Clap clap clap......

  The gunfire grew more urgent, the bullets came like hailstones, the Da Shun soldiers fell one after another, layer upon layer, and in an instant, there were forty or fifty corpses at the mouth of the valley, some of which had been trampled into dark red pulp.

  As soon as the gunshot rang out, Li Yan felt something was wrong and anxiously asked: "What's going on? Where did the gunshot come from?"

  Someone panted and said: "General Zhi, it's Gu Kou, there are ambushes in Gu Kou!"

  Li Yan's face suddenly turned gloomy as soon as he heard the sound. From the familiar gunshot, he had already guessed that it was the group of people he was pursuing, and only they would use firearms in this way!

  "Fall back!"

  Temporarily out of contact, Li Yan said coldly: "Archers move forward, suppress the firelocks, and everyone else charge for me!"

  Li Yan gave the order, and twenty or so tall and strong soldiers walked out of the troops. They were all divine archers of Dashun Army, with confidence to hit targets over 120 steps away.

  The bow was drawn full, the arrow left the string, tracing a beautiful arc, and shot towards Gu Zhenhua and his men.

  Ah!

  The soldier let out a pained cry as an arrow flew past his neck, and fresh blood began to flow. However, more arrows were blocked by the chest wall, and the soldiers were unharmed.

  "Aim, fire!"

  Gu Zhenhua didn't care about the wounded, and with a single order, fifty or so muskets were aimed in the direction of the archers. A burst of chaotic gunfire went off, and four or five archers let out miserable cries as they fell to the ground.

  The lead bullets shattered the chest, broke the arms and legs, and the flesh was blurred. Looking at these people, they were doomed to die. With today's medical means, large wounds would inevitably become infected, and infection would be fatal in 99% of cases. These few archers had already been sentenced to death!

  Li Yan's heart suddenly felt like it had been pricked by a needle. The Great General's army didn't have many divine archers to begin with, how could they afford such heavy losses?!

  "How can their muskets shoot so far with such a weak soul?"

  Li Yan furiously roared, of course he didn't know that the best quality Lu Mi Chong's range can exceed 150 steps, far beyond the limit of bows and arrows. The exquisite goods obtained by Gu Zhenhua from Zhu Chunchen were just like this!

  "Hurry, let the archers retreat!" Li Yan hastily gave the order.

  "General Zhi, what should we do? Should we retreat from the valley first and attack from another direction?"

  "No way, absolutely cannot give them time to escape!" Li Yan said resolutely: "Launch a fierce attack! Concentrate all forces and launch a strong attack, I don't believe their firearms can't be exhausted."

  Li Yan also became fierce, the cavalry of Dashun Army gathered together, getting denser and denser. Li Yan narrowed his eyes, this group of enemies was getting more and more terrifying, they must be thoroughly eliminated, no matter what the cost!

  What's wrong!

  The war horse neighs, the cavalry urges the war horse towards the valley mouth, and rushes forward bravely.

  "Fire!"

  Gunfire erupted, the cavalry was struck by lightning, and they fell off their war horses one after another. However, the people behind didn't care at all, still charging forward under the hail of bullets.

  Row after row, wave after wave, the cavalry of Dashun Army was like a tide, surging and crashing forward, giving no time to breathe. Trampling on the bodies of their companions, they were getting closer and closer to the valley entrance.

  Boom!

  A loud cry of pain came over, Gu Zhenhua hurriedly looked over and saw that a soldier's fire lance had exploded, his hands were all bloody and mangled, and there were also bloodstains on his chest and face. Although the fire lances made by Gu Zhenhua were considered to be of high quality, they still couldn't completely eliminate the problem of bursting barrels.

  Seeing the miserable appearance of their companions, these fire gunners turned pale, biting their lips tightly. Their hearts were trembling, and their feet were also trembling!

  Hundreds of war horses trampled the ground, like a roaring giant beast, surging towards the valley entrance, a torrential human tide, with lightning-like speed, seemingly impossible for any breastwork to withstand.

  The pre-loaded muskets had all been fired, and every soldier's eyes were filled with terror. But Gu Zhenhua was the opposite, a faint sense of complacency appeared on his face.

  They've been waiting for this moment! The Da Shun Army has gathered near the valley entrance, and it's time to deliver a fatal blow. Three thousand kilograms of explosives, wanting to blast several kilometers of mountain valleys is simply unrealistic, so Gu Zhenhua arranged all the explosives near the valley entrance.

  The cavalry of Dashun Army was fast, but it couldn't be faster than the flashing and jumping fire sparks, which were darting about with a hissing sound.

  "Fall asleep quickly!"

  Gu Zhenhua gave an order and the soldiers instinctively dropped to the ground.

  Just as they had just lain down, a shocking and earth-shaking loud noise came over, and in an instant the entire ground began to tremble.

  The cavalry on the ground was like a small boat in the vast ocean, and when the storm came, they were ruthlessly thrown into the sky and then heavily slammed down!

  Bones shattered and tendons snapped, flesh and blood flying everywhere!

  The intense explosion sounds one after another, making people's ears deaf! What is more lethal is not the direct explosion of explosives, but those flying rocks.

  Gu Zhenhua was worried that the power would not be enough, so when burying it, he used his best efforts to put half of the gunpowder in the steep cliff two or three meters away. Once the explosion occurred, it could blast the rocks into powder and use these stones as lethal weapons. Even if the explosives were on the ground, they were also covered with a layer of stone blocks

  As expected, after the explosion, the power increased several times, and stones flew horizontally, from the size of a washbasin to that of an egg. The stones were like hailstones, heavily hitting the heads of the Dashun Army.

  In the valley, there was nowhere to hide, smoke filled the air, and flames flickered. Everyone became headless flies, running wildly in all directions, countless soldiers were injured or killed, even the war horses could not escape, cries of "father" and "mother" filled the valley, like a scene from hell.

  At this time, the soldiers hiding on the mountain slope had long been clenching their fists and rubbing their palms. A few people used all their strength to roll down thousands of kilograms of boulders, with a force as swift as thunder, crushing everything in its path. Whether it was humans or warhorses, they were all living beings with flesh and blood, completely unable to withstand the onslaught. On the ground, a bloody trail was left behind, and no one knew how many had been crushed to death.

  Wails filled the fields, flesh and blood flew everywhere, and even Li Yan was no exception. A stone hit him right on the forehead, swelling up a bump the size of a duck egg, like a polar egg.

  Li Yan didn't even have time to feel the pain, looking around, all were corpses, all wailing soldiers. In the explosion, at least more than 200 soldiers were killed, crushed to death, and those who survived were all injured, with many having their legs broken off. Having fought so many battles, Li Yan had never seen such a miserable situation. He fiercely punched the stone on the ground, and fresh blood flowed from his fist.

  "General Zhai, hurry up, or we're all done for!" his bodyguard shouted loudly.

  "I refuse to accept this!" Li Yan cried out in anguish.

  "General Zhi, as long as we have the green mountains, we won't worry about firewood. Hurry to report to Emperor Chongzhen and bring in a large army to thoroughly eliminate them and avenge our fallen brothers."

  "That's right." Li Yan also reacted: "I can't die here, I won't make it easy for them!"

  "Charge! Charge out of the valley!"

  The remaining Dashun Army protected Li Yan, they did not dare to attack head-on and could only kill their way back.

  At this time, Tang Zhanxiong had already sealed the entrance, and the road that could originally accommodate five or six war horses was only left with a width of one person. Tang Zhanxiong then led the firearms team to block the exit.

  "Come on, however many come, I'll kill that many!"

  As expected, the Dashun Army launched a desperate attack, and the sound of gunfire rang out. In the narrow space, there was no way to avoid it. The bodies of the Dashun Army soldiers piled up layer upon layer. Two of Li Yan's personal bodyguards were killed, and he himself almost fell off his horse after being hit. It seemed that the entire Dashun Army was on the verge of annihilation.

  Just then, a horseshoe sound came from afar, and the leading knight was dressed in fiery red, riding a large red horse, like lightning, rushing to the valley entrance.

  Tang Zhanxiong hastily swung his knife to chop, but as soon as he saw her face, Tang Zhanxiong was also stunned for a moment - the opponent turned out to be a woman! Before he had time to be surprised, a huge force came over, and Tang Zhanxiong's arm went numb.

  "What fierce girls!"

  The woman didn't care about Tang Zhanxiong at all, and after rushing over, she went straight to Li Yan's side and grabbed him.

  "Husband, mount your horse!"

  Li Yan was pulled onto the war horse, turned his head, and this woman seemed to be a red flash, running towards the distance, with the female soldiers closely following behind to escort her, and they galloped away.

  At this time, Gu Zhenhua also led his men into the valley and saw the red-clothed female knight from a distance. With a glance, Gu Zhenhua's mind suddenly flashed with a name: Hong Niangzi!

  She was indeed a refreshing and heroic woman, and Gu Zhenhua couldn't help but admire her. It's just a pity that such an extraordinary woman had fallen into Li Yan's hands.

  Just as Gu Zhenhua shook his head and sighed, Gao Hongtu ran over excitedly: "Master, we've struck it rich! Look at all the war horses covering the mountains and plains!"